A Pretty Intense Reunion
Darkness had just started to discreetly overcome the village of Konoha. It was late summer, and not until now, at around 11:00 pm, was the sun out of sight. There was a pleasant mood throughout the whole village, with only a few people walking silently to their residences. The wind had apparently decided to neglect the leaf village at the time. It was perfectly calm, the source of sound belonging only to a couple of birds and crickets. The sky had a very feeble orange-red tint at the horizon, whereas the rest went from a light greyish-blue to a deep indigo. The warmth of the sun could still be felt in the air and on the pavement. Around the village, the multicolored meadows had a slight flowery scent.
Uzumaki Naruto groaned as he sat down heavily onto the grass, frowning and pouting, like a frustrated child who didn't get the toy he wanted. He gazed upon the mountain with the carved out Hokage faces and down below to the low roof tops of the village. It did not help today. He thought it would lift his spirits if he escaped, but he almost felt worse. All of it was mocking him, the silence, the birds, the beautiful sky. Nothing resembled the way he felt. If it would, there would be a storm, lightning coming from everywhere, everyone being randomly blown to thousands of slimy pieces, him standing on the hill laughing manically like an evil witch with his arms in the air. Madness, in other words. Okay, maybe not that bad, but still.
Naruto couldn't help losing himself in his issues yet again. What was he supposed to do? His future seemed grim; his best friend was still nowhere to be found and his plans seem to fail whatever he did. It was like he was the only one who cared, since all of his friends thought that Sasuke was now a lost cause. They didn't understand, according to Naruto. He couldn't imagine how all of them could just keep living their lives as if nothing happened. It's like Sasuke never existed. Naruto's insides twisted at the very thought. He shifted and attempted to shake his disputes off of himself.
I have to find a way to bring him back, it's not gonna help to just chase after him, Naruto realized thoughtfully. "There must be some other way..." he whispered to himself. He spent the next hour going through possible scenarios, but gave up since his brain started to ache. That was Shikamaru's thing, it was too much of a drag for mr I-don't-have-a-brain Naruto. He was however able to come to the conclusion that he needed a different approach to the matter, which to him felt like a long day's hard work. So Naruto stood up confidently, a small smile on his tanned face.
The next morning, Naruto was awakened by the sun making its way into the window of his small, messy apartment. Naruto stood up within seconds, feeling a whole new energy flowing in his body, his cerulean blue eyes shining like never before. He smiled and squinted out the window towards the sun. No matter what it takes, this day's gonna be great, Naruto thought to himself, determination filling his chest.
Meanwhile in the dark dungeons of Orochimaru's hideout, there was a certain raven-haired young man how was not enjoying the sun. Sasuke Uchiha sat in his bare, dark and windowless room, the only light source being a single candle on the small table next to the hard bed. He was trying to relax; he had started to tense as a result of the insanely hard training. The last thing he wanted was Orochimaru complaining on his tenseness and giving him "special" treatment. A cold shiver went down his spine. He'd rather die. After killing Itachi, that is.
He overheard Kabuto and Orochimaru discussing Konoha, clearly there were some updates. Sasuke shifted slightly as he heard them mentioning Naruto, who was obviously looking for him. That moron, Sasuke thought bitterly. He can't even spy without letting the whole world know. His thoughts almost started to drift off before he gathered them and decided to go train some more, his mood even worse than before.
Back in Konoha Naruto was getting dressed, grabbing his usual orange and black matching jacket and pants, which must have been the most non-discreet ninja outfit in the history of civilization. He was done within minutes, being as excited as usual about breakfast. He practically ran to the small kitchen, searching desperately through the few cabinets mumbling "Ramen, ramen, ramen, where are you~?" and almost shrieked of joy at the single cup of ramen left, lying in the soon-to-be empty cabinet.
After he had finished his breakfast (being proud of remembering to check the date on the milk) he made his way to the training grounds. The weather was representing what Naruto did his best to remain today in the form of sunshine and a clear, blue sky. He arrived at the well trimmed velvety green field, not even being annoyed at the fact that Kakashi was late as usual. He sat softly onto the grass, enjoying the sun for a while. Soon he heard footsteps followed by a "Hey, Naruto!", which was the voice of Sakura.
"Hey, Sakura", Naruto answered calmly. "What's wrong?" Sakura asked, obviously worried. Naruto was never calm. "Nothing, I'm feeling better today actually." Naruto smiled genuinely, so Sakura let it go. "He won't ever be on time, will he..." Sakura sighed, shaking her head slowly. "Guess not." Naruto said. They enjoyed the silence for a while, waiting for their sensei, the time optimist.
"Yo!" Kakashi greeted, suddenly appearing out of thin air. "Sorry I'm late, I had to save a princess from a dragon and climb up a very high tower and there was fire everywhere." he explained.
"That's gotta be the worst excuse so far." Sakura yawned. Naruto threw a rock at his sensei, not bothering to aim. "Really lame, Kakashi-sensei."
"Ok maybe not, but listen. I have some news concerning Akatsuki." Naruto turned his full attention towards Kakashi. "It seems they have split up searching for the Jinchuuriki. There are rumors that they are stationed in the fire country at the moment. We are to join forces with the other villages and track them, but it is going to be difficult, considering lack of information and the tremendous travel speed of the Akatsuki. However, we know that Uchiha Itachi" (Naruto had to surpress a gasp at the name) "and his partner most certainly are in the fire country. They were seen by a couple of commoners at the border to the sound country, moving into the fire country. It was reported around 4 hours ago, so they cannot have come far. I'm canceling training today. I'll let you know when we have a mission. That's about it. Later!" And with that Kakashi was gone in a cloud of smoke. "That's odd... What's their sudden interest in the Jinchuuriki?" Sakura asked, more to herself than to anyone else. "Naruto...?" she asked when he didn't answer. Naruto was sitting stiffly on the ground, a frown on his face and a deeply thoughtful expression.
"Gotta go, see ya Sakura-chan" Naruto said, hastily heaving himself up and racing towards the village. He made his way to his apartment, running through the small alleys, completely focused on his destination. He kicked the door open and searched through his bedroom for a certain piece of paper he had not paid attention to until now. He didn't even notice Sai sitting casually on the window frame. "Hey Naruto, what's with the sudden haste?" he asked calmly. Naruto froze and turned slowly to the window. "Fuck, Sai, stop doing that!" he burst out, surprise clear in his voice. "Sorry" Sai responded, obviously not sorry at all. "What are you looking for anyway? I could help...?" he offered. "Oh it's just this receipt to the hot spring close to the sound village I went to a couple of months ago, I was going to, like, y'know..." he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck and laughing nervously. "I see. Well, I need to finish a painting before it dries, just came to see if you were ill or not." And with that, Sai disappeared from the window frame, leaving Naruto relieved that he didn't have to tell him more. He resumed his search and after a while he found the receipt.
Similarly, Orochimaru had found what he was looking for in the large stone training hall. "Oh Sasuke-kun, don't overdo yourself now" he mused, watching Sasuke throw his kunais simultaneously with flawless precision at every target in the room. "Go away." Sasuke snapped back. "Not until you listen." he said and waited. Sasuke stopped his movement and stood still, looking severely bored and annoyed. "Akatsuki have split up and it seems Itachi and his partner have errands in the fire country at the moment." Sasuke's face filled with a sudden fierce intensity, glaring dangerously at Orochimaru. "Where?" was all he managed to spit out. "Well, Konoha seem to be certain that he was spotted around the border to the sound village. But easy, Sasuke, you don't have to find him now. We can find him whenever we need to-" Orochimaru tried, failing miserably to convince the Uchiha. Sasuke was out in seconds, leaving an echo of his rapid footsteps in the hollow stone room.
Naruto was in full acceleration the moment he had found the receipt, aiming for the hot spring. He skimmed through it again and he just couldn't believe how he had not read it thoroughly before. On it was the date and price of a visit made by a customer under the name Uchiha Itachi. The reason he had it at his apartment was that he had found it months ago, obsessing over the "Uchiha" part of it. He hadn't thought twice about the fact that Itachi was Sasuke's brother. But now he knew better. Sasuke wanted to kill Itachi, so he was probably going to try and find him. Therefore, where Itachi was, Sasuke was also going to be. Naruto wanted to see Sasuke again, but even more he didn't want his best friend to be a murderer, if he could help it.
As Naruto practically flew past the houses and shops of the village and he found himself arriving at the border within an unnaturally small period of time. Since the area was familiar to him, he worked out that the hot spring was only a couple of hundred meters from his current position. He managed to calm down and forced himself to walk cautiously the remaining distance. As the hot spring came into his visual field he started to sense a strange atmosphere. It was just too quiet. Only the swooshing of the slight wind could be heard. Not the splashing of water or even the sounds of voices. Naruto silenced his footsteps further as he rounded a corner, approaching the wide-open entrance of the hot spring.
Soaring through the deep forests of the Sound village was Sasuke, desperate in his pursuit. He was unusually careless, his only focus lying on finding the closest route to the border of the Sound country, the result being nothing near what a normal person would call an actual route. The awfully dense, deeply green forest seemed endless, the trees smacking his every limb, attempting to hinder him from proceeding. He still wasn't thinking clearly, his mind was clouded with hatred and his senses sharpened as the adrenaline pumped roughly through him. He became desperate, starting to use his fire jutsu to clear out branches in his way, leaving a trail of smoke behind him.
Naruto had just rounded the corner and was now standing at the entrance of the unnaturally silent hot spring. The area was large and enclosed by a high bamboo fence with the few hot springs covering most of it, the water steaming invitingly. The rest was decorated by sleek stone outdoor tiles, soft sand and some grass, a bridge separating the springs, making it look like a typical Japanese garden. A small cabin was at one end of the area, and Naruto decided to approach it since he concluded that there was nobody present (as far as he could see at this point). He paced quickly yet quietly towards to closed front door but stopped immediately when he heard it creak and open suspiciously slowly. Anxiety and suspense was building up inside Naruto, his heart pumping out massive amounts of blood to his veins.
The door was suddenly pushed open and a figure was now exposed on the threshold. Naruto was already staring blindly at the doorway, but his eyes widened further as he observed the person. His eyes went from bottom to top, black sandals, a long black embroidered coat, black hair and glaring red eyes. It was Uchiha Itachi, looking rather passive as he, amused, regarded Naruto's expression.
"Well, if it isn't Uzumaki Naruto." Itachi mused. Naruto was still staring, unable to move, speak or even blink. "You're quite slow, aren't you?" Itachi added when he wasn't given a response.
"Sh-shut up!" Naruto suddenly spat out.
"Oh so you can talk." Itachi commented, "I suppose you're looking for Sasuke. Well, I would certainly expect him to arrive sooner or later. However, I hadn't planning on staying that long."
"You're s-staying, whether you like it or not. I'm not going to let you hurt S-Sasuke anymore!" Naruto shakily announced. Itachi sighed deeply.
"I hope you do realize your inability to do precisely that." he explained matter-of-factly.
"Oh we'll see about inability!" Naruto exclaimed, but was about to be proven wrong. He was just about to march towards the annoying Uchiha, however he noticed that the Uchiha was right. He was literally unable to move. That annoying, pompous bastard, Naruto thought angrily. Itachi smirked but didn't say a word.
Naruto wasn't exactly unprepared, but still surprised when Itachi's genjutsu started to change the surroundings. He gasped at the sensation of being sucked into a vacuum and widened his eyes as he watched the pleasant garden change both color and shape. The area was no longer enclosed, it now seemed hollow yet everlasting while it was turning into a deep blood-red shade all around him. It felt like he couldn't breathe properly, as if someone was pushing at his chest from every direction. His mind started to feel clouded, numerous emotions spinning at the speed of light inside of his head.
The emotions were, in essence, triggered by the memories he was suddenly forced to remember. Memories of the one he always tried to specifically suppress memories of. Generally speaking, they should have seemed happy. Naruto and Sasuke, walking to their missions, having a normal conversation (Naruto doing most of the speaking of course), Sasuke rolling his eyes at Naruto's exaggerated reactions, Sasuke calling Naruto names, receiving childish retorts. Them sitting on hillsides, sharing their silent and very discreet form of friendship. To Naruto, however, these memories were only a reminder of his constant inner suffering.
"Sasuke!" Naruto called out, unnecessarily loud seeing as Sasuke was merely about one yard beside him.
"Hn?"
"Are you always sad?" he asked, with a very sudden change of tone and facial expression.
"What kind of question is that, dobe?" Sasuke muttered back without taking his gaze of the water that flowed over the rocks.
They were sitting just inches from the edge of a streaming, clean river. It was midday and the sun beamed through the sparse amount of trees, illuminating the grass, the water and the two young boys.
"Dunno, I just get the feeling that you're never really happy." Naruto shrugged. He returned to stare at the slightly denser forest on the other side of the river, the silence filling with bird's twitting and water rippling.
"Hn. You really are a clueless idiot, aren't you." Sasuke answered after a while.
Naruto never fully realized what Sasuke had meant at the time, they had only been 10 years old after all, and he certainly did not understand why this particular, seemingly unimportant memory was suddenly etched into his mind. It was typical of Itachi to choose such a thing to haunt a person with, his weird ways being, as always, a mystery to human kind.
It kept etching into his mind, quite accurately resembling a video tape being played over and over again. Naruto being his usual easily-distracted self, was truly disturbed by the memory. He didn't even hear the footsteps until they were within a 10 feet radius, so when he did he would have jumped in shock, but since he was more or less paralyzed by the genjutsu, he remained perfectly still. He listened to the footsteps, analyzing them. They were steady but rather slow-paced, clearly not bothering to be discreet. Whoever this person is, it's only an illusion, Naruto thought to himself, trying to calm down. He raised the only thing he could move, his eyes.
Out of the shadows a figure was growing more and more visible. First the silhouette, who showed that this must be a man, then the movements, which were moderately stiff, then the colours. Black sandals, black roomy pants, a weird purple loincloth with a purple rope, a low-necked white shirt. Naruto swallowed as he saw the figure complete with black, messy hair and piercing red eyes.
Naruto managed to close his eyes, he didn't want to see this. He held them shut for a long while, trying desperately to distract his mind with other thoughts. He thought about the village, Sakura, Kakashi and all the others. He realised his own recklessness in coming here without backup or anything, he should have thought more of them. He sighed and considered the possibility that this might be the end. The end of him and all the things he could have accomplished. And he didn't even get to say goodbye to his best friend. He felt the stinging in his eyes, but held back the tears.
After a long while which could have been either minutes or hours (Naruto's sense of time was highly flawed at the moment) his head felt somehow lighter and bright daylight was shining through his eyelids, so he opened his eyes. Before him was the hot spring garden looking the same as it did when he had arrived. Itachi was nowhere to be seen. He rearranged his legs to a more comfortable standing position, raised his neck and direkted his eyes forward.
There, just a yard or two in front of him, stood Sasuke leaning casually against the tall fence. A life-size, living, actual Sasuke. He blinked, rubbed his eyes and stared, mouth wide open.
"What the hell are you staring at, dobe?" Sasuke asked, rolling his eyes at the moron, who at the moment resembled a fish quite accurately.
Naruto could barely hear him. His body was busy rising in heartbeat and blood pressure, his head heating up and his palms sweating. His thoughts were a complete blur, spinning fiercely, making him dizzy. He wanted to talk, he wanted to tell Sasuke he was so immensely, indescribably happy.
"Are you slow or what?" Sasuke muttered, and impatiently started to walk towards Naruto. He closed the space between them and wrapped his strong arms around the shorter man. Naruto returned the embrace immediately on pure reflex.
"S-Sasuke, I..."
"Shh.. I know." Sasuke shushed him and calmy stroked his back in hope to decrease Naruto's trembling. "And don't worry about Itachi, we wont be seeing him anymore." he added bitterly.
"But Sasuke, I thought..." Naruto started, but was interrupted by a pair of soft lips against his own. An additional blast of spinning, confusing emotions were added to his head, making it feel as if it were going to explode. Even though they were confusing and of all imaginable sorts, they added up to a happiness beyond recognition. Naruto suddenly broke the kiss and started running.
"Hey, what the hell dobe!" Sasuke yelled after him.
"It's your time to chase me!" Naruto teased and stuck his tongue out before dissapearing around the corner.
"This wont take long." Sasuke smirked and went after him with determined, long strides as he thought of different ways to make the blond idiot happy that night.